{"id":122124,"date":"2014-06-01T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T07:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?guid=f9f220832f6bc090441a5dad2e04a93a"},"modified":"2014-06-01T07:55:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T07:55:00","slug":"israeli-extrajudicial-assassinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/editorials\/israeli-extrajudicial-assassinations\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Extrajudicial Assassinations"},"content":{"rendered":"
Israeli Extrajudicial Assassinations<\/b><\/div>\n
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by Stephen Lendman<\/div>\n
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They’re willful, premeditated cold-blooded murder. They’re official Israeli policy.<\/div>\n
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Killers get impunity. Investigations rarely happen. Occasional ones are whitewashed. In May 2007, former Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said:<\/div>\n
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“We decided to carry out more physical liquidation operations against (Palestinian) ‘terrorists’ “<\/div>\n
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“I think this will eliminate the damage caused to Israeli territory due to the launching of Palestinian rockets.”<\/div>\n
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Just cause for murder doesn’t exist. Claiming otherwise rings hollow. International law is clear and unequivocal.<\/div>\n
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Article 23b of the 1907 Hague Regulations prohibits “assassination, proscription, or outlawry of an enemy, or putting a price upon an enemy’s head, as well as offering a reward for any enemy ‘dead or alive.’ ” <\/div>\n
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Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” <\/div>\n
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UDHR recognizes the “inherent dignity (and) equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”<\/div>\n
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The 1980 Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders condemned “the practice of killing and executing political opponents or suspected offenders carried out by armed forces, law enforcement or other governmental agencies or by paramilitary or political groups.”<\/div>\n
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On December 15, 1980, the General Assembly adopted resolution 35\/172.<\/div>\n
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It urged member states abide by the provisions of Articles 6, 14 and 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights.<\/div>\n
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They cover the right to life and various safeguards. They mandate fair and impartial judicial proceedings. <\/div>\n
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The 1989 UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions states: <\/div>\n
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“Governments shall prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions and shall ensure that any such executions are recognized as offences under their criminal laws, and are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the seriousness of such offenses.” <\/div>\n
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“Exceptional circumstances, including a state of war or threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification of such executions.” <\/div>\n
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“(They) shall not be carried out under any circumstances including, but not limited to, situations of internal armed conflict, excessive or illegal use of force by a public official or other person acting in an official capacity or by a person acting at the instigation, or with the consent or acquiescence of such person, and situations in which deaths occur in custody.” <\/div>\n
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“This prohibition shall prevail over decrees issued by governmental authority.”<\/div>\n
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These international law principles apply to occupied populations. So does Fourth Geneva.<\/div>\n
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Its Article 3 affords them special protections. They cover all actions related to “(v)iolence to life and person, murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.”<\/div>\n
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“The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees (is) recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.”<\/div>\n
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Article 32 states:<\/div>\n
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“(T)he High Contracting Parties specifically agree that each of them is prohibited from taking any measure of such a character as to cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands.” <\/div>\n
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“This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishment, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment of a protected person, but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents.”<\/div>\n
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“Article 85 refers to “Grave Breaches.” They’re defined as “(a)cts committed willfully and causing death or serious injury to body or health\u2026”<\/div>\n
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They subject civilian populations or individuals to “indiscriminate attack(s) affecting (them) or civilian objects\u2026”<\/div>\n
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The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute calls these violations war crimes. Under Article 8, they include:<\/div>\n
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